Nita Ambani elected to the Board of Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Educationist, philanthropist, and businesswoman Nita Ambani has been named an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The appointment was announced by Daniel Brodsky, the Museum’s Chairman. Ambani’s election took place at the November 12 meeting of the Board.

Brodsky commented, in a press release: “Mrs. Ambani’s commitment to The Met and to preserving and promoting India’s art and culture is truly exceptional. Her support has an enormous impact on the Museum’s ability to study and display art from every corner of the world. It is a pleasure to welcome Nita Ambani to the Board.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens—businessmen and financiers as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day—who wanted to create a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. Today, the Met displays tens of thousands of objects covering 5,000 years of art from around the world.

The museum lives in three iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters.

Ambani is the Founder and Chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, an Indian philanthropic organization that has supported The Met since 2016, beginning with the exhibition Nasreen Mohamedi.

That presentation was the first museum retrospective of the artist’s work in the United States and was also one of The Met Breuer’s inaugural exhibitions. In 2017, the Reliance Foundation committed to support exhibitions that explore and celebrate the arts of India. The first exhibition to benefit from this gift was Modernism on the Ganges: Raghubir Singh Photographs (October 11, 2017–January 2, 2018), followed by Phenomenal Nature: Mrinalini Mukherjee (June 4–September 29, 2019), which marked the first comprehensive display of Mukherjee’s work in the United States. Other exhibitions that will benefit from this sponsorship include the upcoming Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 B.C.–A.D. 400, opening November 10, 2020, at The Met Fifth Avenue, along with exhibitions that will cover such topics as 17th-century Mughal art and contemporary Indian sculpture.

In 2017, the Museum honored Ambani at The Met Winter Party, an event celebrating the achievements of those who foster greater diversity and inclusion in the world of art. Generous with her time and expertise, Mrs. Ambani is also a member of The Met’s International Council.

Ambani is especially committed to preserving and promoting India’s art, culture, and heritage. Reliance Foundation has sponsored key cultural events such as The Elephanta Festival, and Abbaji, the annual concert of master musician Ustad Zakir Hussain, among the many efforts to recognize the cultural legends of India and ensure their relevance to a younger generation. In its initiatives to advance knowledge of Indian arts internationally, the Foundation has supported not only the series of exhibitions at The Met but also presentations such as Gates of the Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago.

In her role as Founder and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation, Ambani has impacted the lives of more than 34 million people across India through the organization’s initiatives in rural transformation; health; education; sports for development; disaster response; arts, culture and heritage; and urban renewal. The Foundation’s education program pays special attention to gender equity to increase much-needed opportunities for girls and young women. The Foundation’s Dhirubhai Ambani Scholarship has so far provided financial support to 12,000 students to pursue graduation in any institution of their choice—nearly half of these scholarships are given to girls.

In 2017, Ambani received the prestigious Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award from the President of India for the work of Reliance Foundation in the area of sports for development. In 2016, Forbes listed Mrs. Ambani as one of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee and is the first Indian woman to serve in that role.

Reliance Foundation (RF), the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Limited, aims to play a catalytic role in addressing India’s development challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions.

Led by Founder and Chairperson Nita Ambani, the Reliance Foundation works relentlessly towards facilitating transformative changes to ensure overall well-being and higher quality of life for all. Among India’s largest social initiatives, RF is focused on addressing the nation’s development challenges in areas of rural transformation, health, education, sports for development, disaster response, urban renewal, and arts, culture and heritage. Reliance Foundation has touched the lives of more than 34 million people across India, in more than 20,000 villages and several urban locations.